THE ROVER SD1 FORUM

chris_derby · Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 10:57 am Post subject: Vitesse front spoiler & bumper

Does anybody know which is fitted first? Deep chin spoiler or front bumper? Will be fitting these to my Vitesse soon, but not a small amount of head scratching has taken place coz I don't know which one goes on the car first!!

Punx0r · SD1 Regular Joined: 05 Nov 2006 Posts: 252

You should be able to do it in either order without much fuss. You may have better access to the two front screws at the stop of the spoiler if the bumper goes on last, but then you'll have to reach up a little more to do up the securing nuts for the bumper. Take your pick really Wink

Chris P · Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 2:16 pm Post subject:

Unlesss I've missed a trick, you need to do this in order:

1. Bumper
2. Belly Panel
3. Spoiler

With the spoiler on (deep chin at least), it's impossible to get to the outer set of bolts for the
bumper irons. I don't think you can reach inside the bumper and remove it from the in-situ
irons as there isn't room to get a spanner - though a flexible head one might work? It is
difficult to reach the two screws at the front/top of the spoiler (into the filler panel) with
the bumper in place.

ramon alban

chris_derby wrote:

Does anybody know which is fitted first? Deep chin spoiler or front bumper? Will be fitting these to my Vitesse soon, but not a small amount of head scratching has taken place coz I don't know which one goes on the car first!!

Chris, How coincindent? Just finished this which will help you lots:

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Lehto · Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:25 am Post subject:

Maybe we should put a sticky on every forum about ramons tips & tricks Very Happy

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Chris P

ramon alban wrote:

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Ah Ramon, you have Triumphed again! The trick I'd missed is removing the thin front grille.
I can see now that if that's removed, the bumper can go on AFTER the belly panel and
deep chin spoiler.

Here is a question for you. Can the bumper irons go on upside down or the wrong way
around (as they are handed), and affect the position of the bumper (but still allow the
bumper to fit)? Some cars have the bumper level with the swage line ahead of the front
wheel arch. Other cars (including mine) have noticable 'bumper droop'.

Punx0r · SD1 Regular Joined: 05 Nov 2006 Posts: 252

I didn't think the front bumper brackets were handed tbh. I didn't remove mine, although everything else came off (including radiator, headlights) for rust treatment.

ramon alban

Chris P wrote:

ramon alban wrote:

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Ah Ramon, you have Triumphed again! The trick I'd missed is removing the thin front grille.
I can see now that if that's removed, the bumper can go on AFTER the belly panel and
deep chin spoiler.

Here is a question for you. Can the bumper irons go on upside down or the wrong way
around (as they are handed), and affect the position of the bumper (but still allow the
bumper to fit)? Some cars have the bumper level with the swage line ahead of the front
wheel arch. Other cars (including mine) have noticable 'bumper droop'.

Chris, they could go on upside down and swapped left to right because they are handed in that sense, but I think you would have more than a droop

The cosmetic under-riders would not fit if the front was down and the side tongues would be miles out.

Looking at your blown up avatar you have a similar amount of APPARANT rearward slope as I do but I think it is an optical illusion because in reality I think the bumper is level and the swage line is not.

You can just discern that on the second picture of my article.

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ramon alban

[quote="ramon alban
You can just discern that on the second picture of my article.[/quote]

You can also see it more clearly here

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put a ruler on the picture and its quite obvious.

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Chris P

ramon alban wrote:

Chris, they could go on upside down and swapped left to right because they are handed in that sense, but I think you would have more than a droop

The cosmetic under-riders would not fit if the front was down and the side tongues would be miles out.

Looking at your blown up avatar you have a similar amount of APPARANT rearward slope as I do but I think it is an optical illusion because in reality I think the bumper is level and the swage line is not.

You can just discern that on the second picture of my article.

I remember trying to figure which way around the bumper irons went,
and deciding they could only go on one way and still make the bumper
and ancilliaries line up.

But if you look at these two pics from recent shows, there is a lot of
apparent 'droop'....

If others see it on their cars, then it must be an optical illusion. Just some
cars don't seem to show it. Maybe colour adds to the illusion??

chris_derby · Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:44 pm Post subject:

So the captive nuts in the belly tray have corresponding holes in the spoiler to secure it to the belly tray then? Looks like I've bought a repro deep chin spoiler then, as my spoiler doesn't have them. Cant grumble for a tenner though right? How much would I be looking to pay for a decent used deep chin?

ramon alban · Last edited by ramon alban on Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:27 pm; edited 1 time in total

Chris P wrote:

If others see it on their cars, then it must be an optical illusion. Just some
cars don't seem to show it. Maybe colour adds to the illusion??

Chris, if you run a ruler over the piccy of your car the bumper trim and the side rubbing strips are in line pretty much, but the swage lines are NOT.

Indeed, if you run the ruler from you rear bumper chrome to the front chrome all the chrome lines up perfek.

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ramon alban · Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:25 pm Post subject:

chris_derby wrote:

So the captive nuts in the belly tray have corresponding holes in the spoiler to secure it to the belly tray then? Looks like I've bought a repro deep chin spoiler then, as my spoiler doesn't have them. Cant grumble for a tenner though right? How much would I be looking to pay for a decent used deep chin?

Yup, but there has still got to be a way to fix the belly and the spoiler together.

As for finding a good original unit. I got mine off a scrapper that had been dealer repaired with a new original spoiler before they went out of stock. the car then went into storage for 6 years before it rusted away. I was lucky and that was five years ago, so the spoiler had been on the donor car 6 years and in my store for a further 5 (total 11) before it saw service again this year as you see in the piccy's.

I only had to make a bracket to replace one of the upper front fixing lugs.

For a decent one you might have to pay 100 quid.

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Chris P

ramon alban wrote:

Chris, if you run a ruler over the piccy of your car the bumper trim and the side rubbing strips are in line pretty much, but the swage lines are NOT.

Indeed, if you run the ruler from you rear bumper chrome to the front chrome all the chrome lines up perfek.

I wonder why that is? Does the SD1 front swage droop a little, so lining up
the bumper with this is wrong?

Looking at side-on pictures of the SD1, the swage does droop at the front
of the car as it follows the increasing angle of the bonnet. On series 1 cars
the swage continued around front of the car with the filler panel below the
headlights, the thin grille on series 2 cars.

Chris P · Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:58 pm Post subject:

chris_derby wrote:

So the captive nuts in the belly tray have corresponding holes in the spoiler to secure it to the belly tray then? Looks like I've bought a repro deep chin spoiler then, as my spoiler doesn't have them. Cant grumble for a tenner though right? How much would I be looking to pay for a decent used deep chin?

Easy way to tell if it's original is that it should be made of hard rubber,
unpainted black. The reproductions are fibreglass.